Farm Girl Studio

Here they are the last group for September. I will set another goal for myself in October. I will also gave a couple of give away. Thanks for stopping by, check back soon to see what new pieces I have. 

Sorry about the post of doom and running off like that. It's not all that bad, I have adjusted to the new program. To tell the truth I am kinda of looking forward to having a bit of free/alone time :P. We have been enjoying the last long days of summer, went to the county fair and saw my first ever demolition derby. Brian is thinking about getting a car and signing up next year. Willow was 5 on the fifteenth and we had a "neighborhood" party. School shopping and harvesting veggie from our garden have also been taking up alot of our time. I am still doing the markets on the weekends, so finding time to create has been high on the list of todos. I hope all of you are having a great August, we are :) As for my crafty $$$ for August I spent it on great home grown veggies at the markets. I have found some new favorites.

The weather man was sure we where not going to have any rain on Saturday,, opps wrong again lol. It drizzled for a good part of the morning. Despite that a lot of people came out to the market! I saw so many past customers that stop to buy my new items, along with wonderful new customers I hope to see again. Here are my new gourds, I am loving these and they are a big seller so far This is not a great picture but I hope you can get the idea, silverware wind chimes. I wasn't able to get a picture of the really big one I sold. It was one of the first things I sold in the morning I didn't realize I had not taken a picture until it was too late :( I have to get back in to the habit of taking pictures of everything I make. A vendor/friend and I went for Indian food after the market,, to be honest I didn't even know there was an Indian restaurant in Dubuque. Very yummy! hit the thrift store to see if I could get anything for wind chimes. Found some wooden rolling pins ...

Well since we are getting more rain today, or that's what they say :P We need to get some garden work done. I want to get some of the window screens cleaned so we can open all the windows without worrying about bugs. I did make beads yesterday and the kiln fairies were kind to me, I need to make more today. I will take pictures before I take them to their new home at Galena Beads . Another thing I want to finally work on is my spinning wheel, I have had one for almost a year. I was gifted an Ashford wheel, ... I know I was very touched by the gift ♥ I love fiber and can't wait to get started on project. Here are some links for you to check out if you are interested in spinning wool on a wheel Hands on Spinning Spinning tips Plucky Fluff

This post is about your crafty money, but I will be posting about spending in general later on. So how do you decide to spend you crafty dollar? Whether you are buying supplies or someone's handmade craft how do you do it. With online store such as Etsy's it is so easy to buy from all over the world. Do you look to see where a store is located or not? Are you shopping locally for handmade items, do you buy supplies online or from Hobby Lobby and Micheal's. Let me just start by saying that the internet allows me to buy things that I could not get locally easily. Love that! and while I do shop at Hobby Lobby and Micheal's for supplies I really do try to buy from small local stores first. A lot of smaller stores will order items that they don't carry for you if you ask. The 3/50 project is a great way to support local stores. Check out the link to read how you can support local business. I consign jewelry in two local stores, they also have many other p...

Miss Scarlet's School of Patternless Sewing I found out about this book on the podcast CraftSanity , did I mention that I obsessed with podcasts lately :P I have a really long list of books that I want to read or listen too. Some books are great listening ones and some you just need to hold. I believe this is a holding one as it comes with 3 project ideas in the back. This book is written by Kathy Cano-Murillo and her web site is Crafty Chica . Expect to spend a lot of time here. I have not gotten through it yet. This is not her first novel Waking Up in the Land of Glitter: A Crafty Chica is her first book, I can't believe I have never heard of these before. Check out her site, blog and her books.

It was a good first day, saw a lot of old friends and meet some new great people. My spot is a little bit up the street now, but I an nearer to the main area so I hope there is more traffic. A lot of the produce vendors didn't come as they didn't have anything ready yet :( it has been so cold here and nothing is growing like it should. I made some different thing and realize that I probably won't be bring baked goods. Stick to what you know, there is such a saturation of baked goods I don't need to compete with then when they have a following already. I sold a gourd bird house and some silverware garden stakes along with my jewelry. Even one of the tooth fairy tins sold :D Here are a couple of pictures from the market Aprons and tutus Earring door Bracelet tray Chocolate pretzels As you can see the uploads from the phone to blogger gives the "nice" reflection :(

Ah relaxation, who doesn't crave it? A friend of mine said to me the other day, "we are an exhausted culture and are always looking something that promises relaxation" So here is my contribution to relaxation. These pillows can be heated or cooled as needed. Just pop them in the microwave or freezer for a bit. Don't use them hot on your eyes, they don't like that. A cool pillow will not only help with sleep but reduce puffiness and dark circles. I used scraps of fabric I had in cotton, velor, and silk. Any fabric will really work for this project. I filled mine with rice and a couple of drops of lavender oil, but you can use flax seed, lavender flowers or chamomile also. Here is a link so you can make your own eye pillow. Lets try to relax a bit today.

I have been wanting to make these for a couple of months now and finally got a the time. These are great for the garden, but you can even use them in house plants if you want to. Here is just one of the many sites that show you how to make them. This one only shows you how to use spoons but I have had great success with forks also. Try it let me know what you think.

Made these yesterday using this youtube video I think the next time I make them I won't decorate the sides as they are hard to close all the way.

With the rain and the fact that the snow is finally melting, Willow and I have been doing some spring crafts. In our home-schooling week we try to have at least one day of crafts. This past week we made some coffee filter flowers. I am loving coffee filter!!! I have a bunch of other craft ideas bookmarked for last. Just google coffee filter crafts and you will be amazed at the things you can make with them. Willow and I used this site for our flowers, but as you can see she has a couple of other ways to use them too. There is not right or wrong way to color them, Willow wanted to draw with the markers so we did that method. I think she like the spraying of the water the best :P Ta-Da

I have been interested in getting back into sewing for some time now. I have a couple of regular sewing machines but really wanted a serger. I was a really good girl last year so I got one for the Holiday. YEAH ME lol. Well this week was the first week I have been able to really sit down and work with it. It is amazing how finished your seems are, I am loving it. I am working on an apron for my mom's birthday at the end of Febuary. Pictures will be coming soon. Here is a cool site for serger projects, check it out. Serger Projects

I finished the gourds and am very happy with them. I have listed them on Etsy and hope to have some for the farmers market in May. I painted them and embellished them with Vintaj Natural Brass. Love them

I have a cabinet full of things to make soap, lip balm and lotions so since we are in Buy Nothing and Use what you've got challenge I made body butter yesterday. Citrus Mango body butter

I pulled out the gourds that I have had for over two years now. It's time :) I am going to be making birdhouses with them. The are many ways that you can decorate them, I am going to painting them, but you can also burn them with a wood burner. Here are a couple of links that have lots of supplies and ideas for gourds Welburn be sure to check out their tutorial video Gourd Crafts How to make a gourd birdhouse

Along with the buy nothing challenge I am putting myself on the use what you have challenge. I am an over buyer of crafting things :) I am going to use all of the stuff I already have and just haven't had the time to use. My list included gourds, horse shoes and a bunch of silverware that needs to be made into something cool. I will be posting links to sites that highlight my underused craft items.

It is very cold but I really don't mind since I love to stay home and create things. I am done with shows for the year and need to get my sales taxes mailed in. I am thinking of spring and what I can bring to the farmers market that is new and unique. This is something I have wanted to work on for a while and now I finally have the time. Refashioning is so fun give it a try yourself, this site has some wonderful tutorials, I haven't even looked at her links :) This is a t-shirt to a ruffle shirt tutorial

Since I have been doing shows again I need to display my work. Those of you who do shows know how expensive displays can be. Mass produced ones are usually not very interesting either. I have been on a quest to either get displays at garage sales or make them. This project incorporates both of those things :P I found these 15" candle sticks at a garage sale for $3. Everything else I had around the house.

Here is a picture of the finished product!

I have been making bars of soap for years now. I don't think I have had to buy soap in abot 7 years. I love the fact that I can make my soap as pure as possible. I was able to make a batch yesterday. I usually make two batches a year. Each batch makes 8lbs so 16lbs is more than we need. The soap makes great gifts also. I am getting ready for the farmers market that opens May 1st. I hope to have three different kinds for the market. Here is a basic recipe, you can add any scent or additives to this. I love to add lavender petals to this when I make lavender soap. INSTRUCTIONS FOR COLD PROCESS SOAP- BASE RECIPE I This is an easy, mild olive oil soap, good for beginners. Recipe: (Makes 8 lbs.) 24 oz. olive oil 24 oz. coconut oil 38 oz. vegetable shortening (Crisco) 12 oz. lye 32 oz. distilled water 3-4 oz. any essential or fragrance oil Equipment Needed: Scale that weighs in pounds and ounces Large one-gal. stainless steel or enamel pot (use this exclusively for soap-making...